Why are some people moving forward with their lives while you are failing badly?

Is your promotion and salary raise long overdue?
Are other people getting promoted, getting married, having kids, and generally happier than you?
Are you dealing with insecurity today?

Probably your life did not pan-out as you dreamt it to be. Probably your prince charming turned into The Hulk. Probably you feel that God is sleeping on the job and you hate yourself for not being as talented or good-looking as the people around you.

I’m sure that all of us have encountered a moment of deep insecurity and unworthiness at one point in our lives. Pastor Steven Furtick said, “The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else’s highlight reel.”

Nokia 3310 vs iPhone 6

I used to have a Nokia 3310 and it was the craze during the early 2000s. It had amazing battery life, it had the game Snake, and its durability is so amazing that nothing can destroy it. But there’s something lacking, you can’t surf the internet, you can stream videos or music with it, you can’t open Facebook with it, and it doesn’t even have a camera.

Today, I have an iPhone 6 which is so technologically amazing! I can manage your bank accounts and pay my bills with this phone, I can record my vlogs, I can have a conference call with a group of people, and many more to top the stuff I listed that my 3310 couldn’t do. But the only downside to it is that it’s so fragile that if you drop it, it easily gets broken, and the battery lasts a day sometimes even less.

The Nokia’s strength is durability but its weakness is technology.

The iPhone’s strength is technology but its weakness is durability and battery

But don’t get me wrong, the manufacturers knew exactly what their creation was going to be as they were making it. Apple wanted the most technological phone ever and they purposely made that its strength and they knew that there’s going to be a cost. The same goes with Nokia.

The point is that some people feel miserable because they try to be both the 3310 and the iPhone.

Friend, God has a holy purpose for your strengths, the same way, He has a holy purpose for your weaknesses. He wants to fill-up whatever you are weak at so you can focus on what you are strong in.

Every time we fail, it’s painful, no doubt about that. But if there’s one blessing that our failure can bring us is that we get to know ourselves a little bit more.

Can you keep a secret? I’m going to share to you my spectacular failures, let’s just keep this between us.

JPaul’s Failures

Academic Failures (too many to mention)

Almost got fired due to poor work performance

Financial debt

Fluidlite Photo and Video (failed business #1)

Mindanao Farm (failed business #2)

Food stall business (failed business #3)

Relationship coach

Molested

Problems with family and friends

Heartbreaks and failed relationships

Today, as I connect the dots, I realize that all my failures were instrumental for my breakthrough. One reason is because when I’m going through a season of failure, I cling to God more, and because He loves His children so much, He won’t allow failure to be our identity. He’ll find a way to bring us forward.

If you are wondering why your life is not moving forward, or why you are not experiencing breakthroughs, it’s probably because you haven’t failed enough yet. Today, I want you to be more open to fail, so that you can live more.

I invite you to connect the dots of your life, no matter how hard it is, think about your most painful experiences, those heartbreaks, and then what are the breakthroughs did you experience after?

Can we all just thank God for the goodness of his love, for the truth na hindi niya tayo papabayaan?

In Jeremiah 31:3, God says, “I have loved you, O my people, with an everlasting love; with loving-kindness I have drawn you to me.”

Let me tell you the story of Horatio Spafford.

Horatio is a leader in his church, a good father, and a successful lawyer.

As his family was preparing for a vacation, he had to ask his wife and children to go a day ahead of him because he had some work to finish. After a few hours, he found out that the ship his family was on, hit another ship and sank. His wife survived but their 4 children drowned. His heart was so broken that he didn’t know what to do.

At the peak of his brokenness, God embraced him, and he got a piece of paper and wrote the words “it is well.” That no matter how hard life is, all is well because God is with him.

The words became a hymn that has been sung for more than 200 years. It’s a song that you sing when you are in great trouble and pain and all you can do is just hope in God and say “It is well.”